The disappearance of an iconic Daintree River crocodile has the reptile's longest admirer worried about its welfare.
David White has operated a crocodile and wildlife spotting cruise on the world heritage-listed Far North Queensland river for 26 years.
He named the now-missing crocodile Scarface for the many lesions it sustained through fights to become the dominant male of the Daintree in the early days of his business.
Mr White said despite searching day and night, he had not seen the almost 5-metre-long, 500-kilogram beast since February 11.
Scarface had gone missing before but never for this long, he said.
"This time of the year they [crocodiles] do hide a lot because the water's quite warm and they spend a lot of time under the water, rather than on the banks like in the wintertime," Mr White said.
"I'm hoping very much that he will come back and he's just having a little holiday … I'm very sad that he might have left us.
"But I haven't seen any fights, so that's why I'm perplexed, he hasn't been fighting any of his competitors."
Mr White said Scarface had been the undisputed king of the Daintree for more than two decades.
This was despite the crocodile, thought to be about 70 years old, missing most of its teeth from fighting and old age.
"When he first arrived he had about six teeth, he's got about three now," Mr White said.
"It's not the end of the world for him … he's big and heavy so he can still fight and he can still eat fish, barramundi and crabs.
"He avoids conflict at any cost … but he fights when he has to.
"Every now and then you get [another male] that hangs around and wants to make a challenge for the territory and he has to fight, and they fight until one gets up and moves on."
Natural causes possible
Mr White said Scarface had an international following due to his business's regular social media posts.
He said he had been contacted by people all over the world concerned about the crocodile's welfare since its disappearance.
Given an estuarine crocodile's life expectancy is around 70 years, Mr White said it was quite possible Scarface had died from old age, finally succumbed to one of his younger rivals, or simply moved on.
"Maybe he's decided that he's not capable of defending his territory anymore and he's looking for a quieter place," he said.
But Mr White's primary fear was that something more sinister had happened.
"What worries me is that if he does leave our area and go somewhere else, I really worry that he might go somewhere where he's not wanted," he said.
"Obviously if he goes somewhere he's not wanted, he may be killed.
"I'd be devastated if he was euthanised because he's gone to someplace where us humans can't tolerate him."
Call to be croc-wise
Crocodile management and access to natural waterways is a fiercely debated topic in Far North Queensland.
Mr White firmly believes humans need to learn to live with having the prehistoric predators in the water.
"People are always saying, 'I used to swim there, and I can't swim there now' and that's true because the crocodiles are protected now," he said.
"They've been there for millions of years, in the past they were hunted almost to extinction but now we have to change the places we swim and interact with the water's edge.
"We have to learn to be croc-wise in croc country because now that they're not hunted they're in every waterway around northern Australia.
"There is always going to be another one coming along to take the place of the one that was taken away."
